F1607 Comparing East and West (Cultures of the World core)

Course description
Confucian heritage cultures in China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Singapore post the highest results on international large-scale assessments of student learning.  Why is this?  Do the tests reflect actual student knowledge levels or do they mirror an instructional focus on testing that overemphasizes performativity and drill?  Are there hidden social costs for the high achievement results in some regions such as loss of creativity and excessive rote learning that need to be identified?  Could components of western educational systems that provide more opportunities for students to develop their own point of view help to rectify some imbalances in eastern systems?  Finally, how might we develop optimal combinations of various educational systems in the future?

This course will explore educational systems in East and West to explore underlying cultural, pedagogical, and curricular explanations for diverse learning outcomes. Students will study research reports and policy recommendations from major transnational organizations and will also investigate analyses and debates from within nations.  Students will study the role of the media in disseminating the results of large-scale assessments and the various levels of attention or indifference to the outcomes from policy makers within jurisdictions.

International large-scale assessments are controversial among some scholars because they fear that the results misrepresent actual levels of student learning and can lead to rushed judgments that exacerbate rather than solve persistent problems of educational attainment.

Are their concerns legitimate?  To understand these concerns students will study research methods used in the assessments, possible sources of sampling error or misinterpretation, and evidence indicating that international large-scale assessments cannot capture the full cultural complexities of any given jurisdictions.  

An important feature of this class will be that extensive use of new technologies will be undertaken in order to engage in direct conversations with leading policy makers and educators from around the globe.  Students will have opportunities to question change leaders about their preferred strategies for improving academic outcomes.  They will be encouraged to consider alternative approaches to enhancing learning, such as experiential learning and the full and creative deployment of various on-line services.

Throughout the course students will learn to conduct independent research and to develop original and independent interpretations of contemporary educational policies. The course will utilize a seminar-style format requiring students to practice developing their own point of view and comparing and contrasting them with their classmates.  Students will have opportunities to reflect on their own schooling experiences in their home countries and to share them with one another as we endeavor to understand how our school systems have come to develop their particular configurations and how they might be improved in the future.

Learning outcomes:
Students will learn to develop their skills as independent thinkers, subtle and critical writers, and collaborative interlocutors of one another’s ideas.  They will learn to analyze educational reports to recognize their strengths and also to identify areas of weakness.  They will learn to advance arguments in favor of their particular policy recommendations.

Required previous knowledge:
Students should have some facility with spoken and written English and interest in contemporary efforts to improve educational systems around the world.